


The Invasion

by Vinnocent



Series: Morphing Human [1]
Category: Animorphs - Katherine A. Applegate, Being Human (UK), Being Human (US/Canada)
Genre: Adolescent Sexuality, Blood and Gore, Bloodlust, Book 1: The Invasion, Casual Ableism, F/F, F/M, Gen, Masochism, Panic Attacks, Pseudo-Incest, Self-Sacrifice, Slurs, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-03
Updated: 2014-03-04
Packaged: 2018-01-14 10:05:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 14,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1262266
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vinnocent/pseuds/Vinnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The start of Morphing Human, an AU of Animorphs set in the world of Being Human. The series takes place at the time of original book publication, starting in 1996. It includes canon from Being Human (UK) 1-5 and may have references to Being Human (US). There are also references to the Animorphs show. It's not really necessary to have seen any of these as I will world-build as I go along. Plots closely follow original plots, but there's also a lot of changes. Originally posted at morphing-human.tumblr</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stars in Her Eyes (Jake)

Everyone dies. Everyone. Even me.

People look at things like me, and they see a way out. Finally, _finally_ , a way out. A detour past the inevitable. We even tell ourselves that. We tell ourselves that we're powerful and immortal and very near godhood, and the rules we follow are rules of convenience. Rules of whim and not obligation.

These things aren't true. There's a lot of things out there that can kill me. They kill those like me every day. But I never knew the fear that comes with true vulnerability. Not really. Not until _he_ came.

My name is Jake, but I can't tell you the identity I use now. It's too dangerous. The Controllers are everywhere.

Everywhere.

I think we've lost enough already, don't you?

* * *

"No, no, Jake!" Marco moaned in disbelief. "Sleeze Troll. Oh my god. It's always the Sleeze Troll."

"This might be easier without someone yelling in my ear," I complained.

"How does someone even die of something the same way over and over again?"

I forced myself not to rub my chest at the thought. My hand stayed on the joystick, despite the fact that the game was over. "Maybe the Sleaze Troll is just my destined end. Ever think of that?"

"You're seriously weird sometimes." Marco nodded toward the arcade entrance, hands in his pockets. "Let's go. We're out of quarters, and I'm tired of losing money to you."

I rolled my eyes toward the ceiling as I let go of the joystick. Then, I turned to him with a playful glare. "It's my money," I reminded him.

"Yeah, and watching you lose it is the most painful thing ever."

I sneered but left, chattering away with him about comic books. I have a much more thorough knowledge of most of the main heroes than Marco does, so he enjoys arguing my knowledge is irrelevant.

Tobias saw me before I saw him, which is often the case. I met Tobias with his head in a toilet and two big guys holding him down. Surprised and intimidated, they stepped off. I guess they weren't expecting to be seen. Since then, Tobias has figured me for a friend, which is a bit awkward with Marco or, really, _anyone_ else around, but what am I supposed to do? It's not his fault he's confused. Nature of the beast, really.

"What's up?" Tobias asked.

I shrugged. "I guess we're heading home?"

Marco glanced at his watch. "Yeah, I should really have been back by now." And I gave him a single pat on his back in reassurance, because that seems to be what people do now.

"So, like, maybe I'll walk home with you guys," Tobias said.

"Sure, let's go, then," I said, leading the way to the exit, where I knew my cousin, Rachel, would be. When we found her, she appeared to be trying out some jewelry she'd just bought while her friend, Cassie, sat next to her on one of those circular couches and didn't even pretend to listen to her. They'd been out of my sight for five hours, and Cassie was both whole and calm. I smiled, glad I'd guessed right about her.

"You guys going home?" I asked Rachel. "You shouldn't go through the construction site by yourselves. I mean, being girls and all."

Rachel looked mildly annoyed at my ploy. She'd probably been hoping to get mugged. "Are you going to come and protect us, you big, strong maaan?" she asked. "You think we're helpless just because--?"

"I'd appreciate it if they did walk with us," Cassie interrupted. "I know you're not afraid of anything, Rachel, but I guess I am."

Rachel rolled her eyes and stood, glaring at me. "I'm starving," she said far too bluntly.

I shrugged with a shit-eating grin. "Well, I guess we better get going then."

She made a rude noise, looked past me to Tobias, and softened. "Sure, whatever."

"Your cousin is seriously weird," Marco whispered to me as we follow them out, and I knew that she could hear it.

"Really? Haven't noticed."

"Weirder than you even."

I laughed maybe a little too loudly.

The construction site was a fearful place at night, full of shadows. Our companions got jumpier. Their hearts paced in my ears. Slightly adrenalized sweat filled the air. Cassie tried to take my hand for reassurance. I could feel her pulse thundering under my fingers, and I pulled my hand away immediately. Based on her expression, I didn't hide my disgust quickly enough. I'd have to explain that later.

"What a _lovely_ idea," Rachel whispered low enough that only I could hear it.

"We'll be out soon," I grumbled under my breath.

She sneered viciously. "You've lost Tobias."

"What?" I turned to see Tobias wasn't with us.

Marco laughed at me. "Forget something?"

I could have left him. Easily. It's not like anything serious would've happened to him. But I didn't. I took a couple steps back to where he had gone, standing still, staring up into the sky. I followed his gaze. "Look," he said.

"The lights?" I asked.

"What lights?" asked Cassie.

"Just look," said Tobias, and I looked at the brilliant, blue-white light scooting across the sky.

"What is it?" I asked, and, at the same time, Tobias and Marco answered "I don't know" with two entirely different tones.

"It's a flying saucer!" Cassie blurted.

Rachel snorted. "Don't be ridiculous," she said, and Marco barely suppressed a snicker.

But Cassie looked to me. I felt ill. "This is wrong. We should go."

Those words had Rachel's immediate attention. Her head snapped toward me like it was on a spring. But, slowly, her eyes climbed back to the sky. "It's coming this way." Sometimes, I wonder if we go looking for this shit.

"It's hard to be sure." My voice was high and tight and desperate.

"No, it's coming this way."

And that was it. That was when I snapped, unable to stand it any more. Fascinating as lights in the sky might be, I'd let Rachel face enough weirdness and danger for our lifetimes. With a growl, I grabbed her and tried to pull her away, but she pulled back, nodding to Marco and Cassie, who were more or less watching the sky still. Marco risked a curious glance at me.

I shook my head at her. We had just enough time to haul our own asses. Dragging those two along would make us choose between slowness and exposure.

She shrugged. She was figuring we could kill anything that threatened us.

It was coming down now. We could begin to make out it's shape. It wasn't exactly a flying saucer. "That tail thing… It looks like a weapon," I said, and Marco agreed.

It seemed to be moving slower and slower, and Rachel had a big dumb grin on her face when she said "It's stopping."

"I think it sees us," Marco said. "Should we run? Maybe we should run home and get a camera. Do you know how much money we could get for a video of a real UFO?"

_Oh please do not do that._ "If we run, they might… I don't know, zap us with phasers on full power," I tried to reason, still pulling uselessly at Rachel.

"Phasers are only on Star Trek," Marco countered like he was some kind of expert on alien spaceships.

The ship stopped and hovered over us for far too long a moment before descending. Bruises were blossoming where I was gripping Rachel's arm far too hard. I was desperate now, unsure of the best action to take and desperate to save her, again, from a badness she welcomed like an old friend.

Our "friends" must have felt the same way as they just stood there while the ship landed between piles of junk and tumbled walls. There were black burn marks along the main, pod-shaped body of the thing. Some of the skin of it even looked melted. When it touched the ground, the blue lights went off and our hair fell down against our necks from where it'd been floating with static.

"It isn't very big, is it?" Rachel whispered.

I shrugged. "Depends on its purpose. What's inside."

"We should tell someone," Marco said. "I mean, this is kind of major, you know? Spaceships don't just land in the construction site every day. We should call the cops or the army or the president or something. We'd be totally famous. We'd get to be on Letterman for sure."

"You get famous. I'm going home." But no one moved.

"I wonder if we should try and talk to it," Rachel said, squinting at it with her other hand on her hips. "I mean, we should communicate. If that's even possible."

Tobias nodded. He stepped forward and held out his hands. I wondered if the alien could even see him. Which side do space aliens count toward? "It's safe," he said in a loud, clear voice. "We won't hurt you."

I rubbed the bridge of my nose, unable to point out how many things were wrong with his efforts.

"Hello?" Cassie called, uncertainly. "C-can you… Could you come out? We won't bring you harm."

<I know.>


	2. A Ghost of a Chance (Rachel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Death is something that happens to everyone. But not always the right way or in the right order. Sometimes things get shoved around, and suddenly your whole world changes.
> 
> I’ve spent the past seventy-nine years trying to pretend that didn’t happen. That I’m not rearranged and contorted into something my parents would never recognize, if they had the chance. It hasn’t been a successful endeavor. Probably because it’s not true.
> 
> But now I know. I know why this happened. I know why I suffer.
> 
> I died for this.
> 
> I won’t tell you the name I’m using now, but I was born Rachel. I can’t tell you the surname because we’re still with family now, and the enemy is everywhere. It’s even among us.
> 
> But nothing lasts forever.

* * *

<I know.>

I looked around for the source of the voice. It seemed so close.

"Did everyone hear that?" Tobias whispered.

I glanced at Jake. He had this weird rule about not telling people what they didn't already know, even if they were on our side of things. Which, around Tobias, involved a lot of double-talking. "I heard that," I agree. "What about you guys?"

Cassie and Marco both nodded, awed. Jake was still gripping me and on the verge of snarling. Carefully, I started pulling his fingers out of my flesh while they were distracted. When he realized what he'd done, he flustered and stepped away from me like he suddenly thought he was more dangerous than the alien.

"Can you come out?" asked Cassie.

<Yes. Do not be frightened.> That voice. It was in my head. I hoped hard that it wasn't psychic.

"We won't be frightened," Tobias said, and I think both Jake and I rolled our eyes.

A thin arc of light appeared, a doorway, opening slowly in the smooth side of the ship. It grew like a waxing moon. And then he appeared.

"Are centaurs real, too, and they're just aliens?" I whispered, and Jake punched me in the arm.

The alien ducked his head out of the doorway, and I was able to see that he had no mouth or nose, but instead three vertical slits on the portion of his face below the eyes. Of which there were four, actually. Two on his face, in the usual place, and two atop his head like horns but constantly moving.

It was the tail that caught my attention, thick and powerful with some sort of horn scythe at the end. A deadly weapon on a delicate creature. It was beautiful.

"Hello," Tobias said.

<Hello,> the alien said.

"Hi," everyone else said awkwardly. I exchanged glances with Jake. This didn't really solve the questions of aliens and Tobias.

The alien staggered as he tried to step toward us, and he fell to the ground. Tobias, the closest by far, rushed forward to catch him. The alien, of course, passed right through him without notice. Jake swore under his breath, while Tobias just stood there, far more shocked by this revelation than the landing of an alien spaceship.

"He's hurt!" Cassie cried, scrambling to the alien's side.

<Yes. I am dying.>

"Can we help you? We can call an ambulance or something," Marco said.

"We can bandage that wound," Cassie said more confidently. "Jake, give me your shirt. We can tear it up and make bandages." I snickered at the fact that she asked for Jake's shirt when Marco was closer, and Jake punched me again.

<No. I will die. The wound is fatal.>

Jake was skeptical. "The first alien to ever come to Earth just comes to die?"

<I am not the first. There are many, many others.>

"Other aliens? Like you?" Tobias demanded.

The alien seemed hesitant to continue. I almost repeated Tobias's question when he supplied, <They have come to destroy you.>

When he said it, I believed it. Even Jake believe it. Absolutely no one voiced an ounce of doubt. He was dying to warn us. This wasn't a lie.

<They are called Yeerks. They are different from us. Different from you, as well.>

"Are you telling us they're already here on Earth?" I demanded. I needed it repeated. I needed to know for sure.

<Many are here. Hundreds. Maybe more.>

"Why hasn't anybody noticed them?" Marco reasoned. "I think someone would have mentioned it at school."

<You do not understand. Yeerks are different. They have no body like yours or mine. They live in the bodies of other species. They are…>

Suddenly, I saw not my environment but a shell-less snail about the size of a rat and gray-green. The vision lasted maybe half a second, but the sudden displacement dumped me bodily into a pit of fear. I had a quarter of a second. A quarter of a second where he wasn't looking at me to fight the urge to claw off all four eyes. If Jake hadn't bent over, clutching his chest in his own flavor of panic, I don't know that I could have stopped myself.

A quarter of a second passed, and one of those eyes was on me, and yes, I was totally disturbed by what I had seen. No other emotions.

"I'm guessing that was a Yeerk," Marco said. "Either that or a very big wad of slimy chewing gum."

<They are almost powerless without hosts. They--> Pain wracked my body, but I barely flinched. I'd taken worse. What was actually hard to handle was his sadness. His regret and loneliness. <The Yeerks are parasites. They must have a host to live in. In this form they are known as Controllers. They enter the brain and are absorbed into it, taking over the host's thoughts and feelings. They try to get the host to accept them voluntarily. It is easier that way. Otherwise, the host may be able to resist, at least a little.>

"What, like puppets?" I demanded.

"Look, this is serious stuff," Jake said, raising his hand as he started to backpedal. "You shouldn't be telling us. We're just kids, you know. This is like something the government should know about."

<We had hoped to stop them,> the alien continued, pretty much ignoring him.

Jake scowled and prodded me to make sure he was still solid. I snorted. "That's not funny," Tobias grumbled.

<Swarms of their Bug fighters were waiting when our Dome ship came out of Z-Space. We knew of their Mother ship and were ready for the Bug fighters, but the Yeerks surprised us. They had hidden a powerful Blade ship in a crater of your moon. We fought, but… we lost. They have tracked me here. They will be here soon to eliminate all traces of me and my ship.>

"How can they do that?" Cassie wondered.

The alien smiled with his eyes. <Their Dracon beams will leave nothing behind but a few molecules of this ship, and… this body,> he said. <I sent a message to my homeworld. We Andalites fight the Yeerks wherever they go throughout the universe. My people will send help, but it may take a year, even more, and by then the Yeerks will have control of this planet. After that, there is no hope. You must tell people. You must warn your people!>

Another spasm of pain that we felt through the psychic communication he was using. I looked at Jake, who looked absolutely sick. We both knew this feeling. This was what it felt like to die.

This alien probably wasn't going to get up again.

"No one is every going to believe us," Marco said hopelessly. "No way."

Tobias reached out desperately, but again, his fingers passed through.

"If we can get him to a…" I tried to think of an end to that statement that wasn't dumb.

<There is no time. No time,> he said hopelessly. Then, his eyes suddenly brightened. <Perhaps…>

"What?"

The alien's main eyes turned pointedly toward Marco. <Go into my ship. You will see a small blue box, very plain. Bring it to me. Quickly! I have very little time, and the Yeerks will find me soon.>

Marco glanced at Jake uncertainly and I realized that while the stalk eyes were constantly moving, Jake and I were never allowed completely out of view. The alien knew. Or suspected. Maybe he thought we might be Yeerks.

Jake smiled reassuringly. "Go on. You're not scared."

Marco snorted. "The hell I'm not." But he watched the alien, doing that math that always made me afraid when it was aimed at me. The equation seemed to conclude that he should go in the ship. We waited uneasily for his return as Cassie held one of the alien's seven-fingered hands. And Tobias flickered, helpless, conflicted, and desperate.

"Here's the box," Marco said, stepping out. His expression was changed.

<Thank you.> The alien took the box from him and his eyes drifted from Marco, but then one returned to him. <Yes?>

"I… nothing."

<There is something I may be able to do to help you fight the Yeerks.>

"What?" I demanded, eager for any weapon.

<I know that you are young. I know that you have no power with which to resist the Controllers. But I may be able to give you some small powers that may help.>

We all looked at each other. Everyone but Tobias, who watched the alien sadly.

<If you wish, I can give you powers that no other human being has ever had.>

"What's that supposed to mean?" Marco asked.

<It is a piece of Andalite technology that the Yeerks do not have. A technology that enables us to pass unnoticed in many parts of the galaxy. The power to morph. We have never shared this power. But your need is great.>


	3. A Gift for Some (Cassie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Cassie. I can’t tell you my last name. I can’t tell you because I’m scared.
> 
> There’s more to the world than I ever imagined.
> 
> And I’m scared.

* * *

"Morph?" Rachel demanded, eyes narrow. "Morph how?"

The Andalite was already looking at her, but now more of his four-eyed focus lined up in her general direction. <To change your bodies,> he answered, hesitating slightly. <To become any other species. Any animal.>

Marco laughed, disbelieving. "Become animals?" he repeated.

<You will only need to touch a creature, to acquire its DNA pattern, and you will be able to become that creature. It requires concentration and determination, but, if you are strong, you can do it. There are… limitations. Problems. Dangers, even. But there is no time to explain it all… no time. You will have to learn for yourselves. But first, do you wish to receive this power?>

"He's kidding, right?" Marco's squeaked.

Jake's focus flinched slightly, the way it would sometimes. As though he wasn't allowed to look at something that wasn't even there. "I don't think he has a lot of reason to kid, Marco," he said.

"This is nuts," Marco said. "This whole thing is nuts. Yeerks and spaceships and slugs taking over people's brains and Andalites and the power to change into animals? Give me a break."

"Weirdest thing I've ever heard," Rachel agreed, but she sounded like she was making fun of him. "But maybe it's time to deal."

Jake almost looked away again. "Right," he said. "Limited time."

"I'll do it," I volunteered.

Jake looked surprised. He glanced at Marco. "Maybe we should decide together. One way or the other." And the Andalite gave him that same suspicious focus that had just been gifted to Rachel.

"What's that?" Rachel asked, looking at the sky again, where two pinpoints of bright red light were shooting across the sky.

<Yeerks,> he said, and I recoiled at the hatred communicated right to my brain. He returned his attention to the four of us, urgent. <There is no more time. You must decide!>

And Jake looked exactly where he'd been trying not to look. A space just behind the fallen Andalite. And, for just a sparse second, I honestly expect to see someone there. I knew that I shouldn't. That I'd been getting better.

"This is so insane!" Marco protested, grabbing Jake's attention. "Insane."

"There's a choice?" Rachel countered.

"What do you say, Jake?" I asked him, noticing how he held back, knowing he was weighing the options more carefully than us.

He seemed surprised that I'd asked him, but then he nodded confidently. "You need to defend yourselves at least." Rachel punched him. "We. We need to."

The Andalite's gaze toward him softened, his tense body relaxing slightly. He pulled his hand from mine and held the cube out between the four of us. <Then each of you, press you hand against one of the sides of the cube.> We did. Each of the four of us taking a side, and the Andalite taking two to hold it more carefully. <Do not be afraid.>

Something like a shock, only pleasurable, seemed to run through me. It made me giggle. Marco snorted. But Jake and Rachel didn't seem to react at all.

<So you… Yes, it would not work for you,> said the Andalite.

Jake and Rachel jerked their hands back promptly, exchanging glances of panic. "Do you trust us?" Jake asked, and it was such a weird question that Marco started to pull away, eying Jake with wary confusion.

<I will have to trust your love of your friends. Two alone is not safe. But are they safer with you?>

Jake looked up. "They're getting closer." His voice was tight with worry.

<Go now,> the Andalite said. <Only remember this: Never remain in animal form more than two of your Earth hours. Never! That is the greatest danger of the morphing! If you stay longer than two hours, you will be trapped, unable to return to human form.>

"Two hours," I repeated.

Suddenly fear washed over me, straight from the Andalite's mind, chilling me. He was staring up at the sky with his main eyes, and I realized that some of the stars we should be able to see out here were gone, blotted out by a dark shape. <Visser Three! He comes.>

"What?" Jake demanded. "What's a Visser? Who's a Visser?"

<Go now. Run! Visser Three is here. He is the most deadly of your enemies. Of all Yeerks, he alone has the power to morph. The same power you now have. Run!>

"No," Rachel protested. "We'll stay with you. Maybe we can help."

The Andalite smiled at her. <No. You must save yourselves. Save yourselves and save your planet! The Yeerks are here.>

We looked up. They were, indeed, here, getting steadily closer. "He's right! Run!" Jake yelled, grabbing Rachel's wrist and pulling her away. Marco was right on their heels. With regret, I started to go, but the Andalite grabbed my wrist, and when I turned back, he pressed a hand to my head.

My brain was flooded with knowledge and images and things that I never, never wanted to see, and I rocked backward, shocked, tears in my eyes. "Why?"

<Because it is needed! Now go!>

I ran out of there desperately and didn't realize that Jake had stopped until I passed him. Conflict twisted his features. "Tobias," he hissed. "Get the fuck over here. We don't know what these Dracons will do to you. Come on!"

I stepped away from him in horror. The Andalite's eyes snapped toward him, and illness washed over us from his link to us. He looked around desperately for something as Jake took off again, pulling me along. Finally, a deeper despair than anything we'd felt from him up to then pierced our souls, paired with realization. Rachel and Marco were unsuccessfully attempting to hold back tears. I think I was weeping openly. Jake was the only one who simply scowled over the low wall we were hiding behind as the Bug fighters landed.

Twin beams of bright red light snapped on, and the Andalite ship glowed as though hot. Slowly, they descended to either side of the Andalite ship.

"Okay," Marco croaked. "You can wake me up now. I've had enough of this dream."

Then the larger ship began to descend, and I felt like its very presence was suffocating me. I whimpered and struggled to take in enough air. Rachel glared at me and leaned away. As the ship settled toward the ground, it looked like it was going to land on top of a big, rusted earthmover. But the earthmover just sizzled and disappeared.

The Blade ship landed. A door opened. And I would have screamed if Jake hadn't grabbed me with a hand clamped over my mouth so hard it hurt. Later, after I had to explain the bruises on my arm and wrist, I'd converse with him about how he can't pull everyone around the way he does Rachel. At that moment, though, I was frozen in terror as they leaped from the ship, whirling and thrusting and slicing the air. The huge, bladed, reptilian creatures scared me more than anything yet.

<Hork-Bajir-Controllers.> The Andalite's voice was somewhat fainter now.

Jake's hand was shaking slightly. "Please stop squirming," he begged, and the words sounded strange, like his jaw was locked shut. I tried to look back at him, but he still had a tight grip.

<The Hork-Bajir are a good people, despite their fearsome looks,> the Andalite said. <But they have been enslaved by the Yeerks. Each of them now carries a Yeerk in their head. They are to be pitied.>

"Pity. Right," Rachel growled. "They're walking killing machines. Look at them!"

"Less jealousy, Rach," Jake grumbled, his words still distorted.

She looked over at us and laughed. "Trouble, cousin?" she whispered teasingly, and I felt my cheeks grow hot.

"Hey," Marco hissed, pointing at the massive centipedes with gaping mouths filled with teeth as they slithering out of the ship. Under Jake's hand, I still whimpered. I wanted to cry.

<Taxxon-Controllers. The Taxxons are evil.>

"Yeah," Marco muttered. "I think I can guess that."

And then the Andalite stepped out.


	4. Monster v Monster

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Tobias. I’m not telling you anything more, because Controllers are everywhere. Maybe you’re one, reading this.
> 
> I mean, I guess they can’t hurt me worse now, but hey. There’s something to be said for protecting your friends.
> 
> Though, I guess, I wonder now, if they’re really the ones that need protecting…
> 
> Anything to win, I guess. I need them. They’re the only ones who know. The only ones with the power and willingness.
> 
> Maybe we’ll lose, but humanity’s lost without them.

* * *

<Silence!> the Andalite warned us. <Hork-Bajir do not see well in darkness, but their hearing is very good.>

"Yeah, I don't think that matters much for me," I said, sitting on the wall as the Hork-Bajir moved closer still. "Since apparently I'm invisible to everyone but the Wonder Twins."

Rachel glared up at me. I stuck my tongue out at her. Jake was still holding Cassie, but his eyes we tightly shut and his jaw was locked. He looked like he was in pain. Or maybe severely constipated.

<Courage, my friends.>

And then a warmth washed over us. Bravery. He was giving us bravery. He was dying, and he was sacrificing his bravery for us.

Finally, Jake released Cassie, turning immediately away from her, but I caught a glimpse of completely black eyes as he blinked rapidly, trying to relax. "What…"

And then that figure stepped delicately out of the ship.

<Visser Three.>

Visser Three was an Andalite-Controller.

"We're screwed," I realized, his bravery immediately washed out by my own dread.

Rachel looked up over the wall. "The hell?"

<Only once has a Yeerk been able to take an Andalite body. There is only one Andalite-Controller. That one is Visser Three.>

<Well, well,> said Visser Three, and Rachel promptly ducked down, swearing under her breath.

<He cannot hear your thoughts,> the Andalite said. <As long as you don't direct them to him. You hear his thoughts because he is broadcasting them for all to hear. This is a great victory for him, so he wants all to hear.>

<What have we here? A meddling Andalite?> Visser Three looked more closely at the Andalite's ship. <Ah, but no ordinary Andalite warrior. Prince Elfangor-Sirinial-Shamtul, if I am not mistaken. An honor to meet you. You're a legend. How many of our fighters have you shredded? Seven, or was it eight by the time the battle ended?>

"I bet it was eight," I sneered.

<The very last Andalite in this sector of space. Yes, I'm afraid your Dome ship has been completely destroyed. Completely. I watched it burn as it fell into the atmosphere of this little world.>

<There will be others,> Elfangor countered.

<Yes, and when they come it will be too late. This world is _mine_. My own contribution to the Yeerk Empire. Our greatest conquest. And then I'll be Visser One. >

"Oh, it's a rank," I realize, "not a name!"

<What do you want with these humans?> Elfangor demands. <You have your Taxxon allies. You have you Hork-Bajir slaves. And other slaves from other worlds. Why these people?>

<Because there are so many, and they are so weak,> Visser Three sneered.

"Hey!" I objected. "Not… everyone."

He continued, <Billions of bodies! And they have no idea what's happening. With this many hosts we can spread throughout the cluster, unstoppable! We'll have to build a thousand new Yeerk pools just to raise Yeerks for half this number of bodies. Face it, Andalite, you have fought bravely. But you have lost.>

Visser Three stepped right up to Elfangor. I could feel Elfangor's fear, but he climbed to his feet despite the pain of his wound. He wanted to die facing his enemy.

Visser Three paid no mind. <I promise you one thing, Prince Elfangor-- when we have this planet, with its rich harvest of bodies, we will move against the Andalite homeworld. I will personally hunt down your family. And I will personally oversee the placement of my most faithful lieutenants in their heads. I hope that they will resist, so I can hear their minds scream.>

Elfangor struck! His tail was a blur!

The Visser twisted his head aside, and Elfangor just missed his head, slicing into his shoulder instead. Blue blood sprayed out. "YES!" I whooped.

"Ugh," Rachel grunted, covering her nose and turning away in disgust.

<Aaaaaarrrrrgh!>

A sun-bright beam of blue light shot from the tail of the Andalite ship. It sliced into the nearest Bug fighter, and Hork-Bajir and Taxxons scattered. Even Marco snuck a peek at the chaos as the Bug fighter sizzled into nothing.

<Fire! Burn his ship!>

More flashes, even brighter and red in color. The others had to duck down away. Both Jake and Rachel swore, and the Andalite ship glowed and slowly melted away into non-existence. But I wasn't paying attention to that anymore. I'd seen something in the light. I stood on the wall for a better look.

"Hey, there's humans!" I said, pointing.

Jake panicked. "Get the fuck down," he hissed. He was a lot more crass in dangerous situations.

I snorted. "Why? They can't see me."

"Some people can, obviously," Rachel snarled.

"Oh, right," and I dropped down between her and Cassie.

Marco was staring. "Uh… Jake man? Who you talking to?"

"Wait, you too?" I demanded waiving a hand in front of Marco's face to no avail. Cassie wasn't noticing either. I spun to Jake. "How long has this been going on?"

"Not right now," Jake whispered, rubbing the bridge of his nose.

<Take the Andalite! Hold him for me.>

When I looked back over the wall, Visser Three was morphing. He was growing larger and larger and larger. His four legs merged into two, thick as redwoods. His arms became sick, writhing tentacles.

"This isn't real," Cassie whispered. "This isn't real."

As soon as that enormous, toothy grin erupted across that massive face, the Visser made use of it. He pulled the Andalite out of the grips of the Hork-Bajir with one thick tentacle.

"Don't look." Rachel wrapped an arm around Cassie and held her close. Then, she reached out and took Marco's hand.

Jake's eyes went black. His lips curled back, predatory, revealing two big fangs. Later, it struck me that that should have scared the pee out of me, but with monsters like these, what's a vampire or two?

But before he could get up, Rachel reached out and grabbed his neck in a grip tight enough to choke, causing him to gag in pain. His face went back to normal. "Sit," she commanded. "He's doing this for us."

"Who said he could?" Jake demanded, but he didn't sound angry, he sounded sad.

And then…

We turned away.

Well, most of us did. Marco vomited. Which, as it turned out, was just enough noise to make one of those serpentine heads turn around and peer into the darkness.

Marco froze. We all froze.

The Hork-Bajir stepped closer. Its nearsighted eyes were aimed directly at where we were crouching. Jake glanced at Rachel. She read something in his gaze and nodded slightly. They waited in pause until the Hork-Bajir blinked.

In an instant, Jake was up, pulling Cassie and Marco along, while Rachel vaulted the wall, propelling herself upward, and grabbed its head, swinging forward and twisting like she was at gymnastics. Needless to say, she broke its neck.

She hit the ground running as blasts from handheld Dracons burst around her. As she beelined for the surrounding woods, the next two nearest Hork-Bajir turned their attention toward her. I knew, I just knew that I had to do anything to stop them. I ran full speed at them. And through them. First one, then the other.

They jerked and shivered. Only a second's delay. Enough for Rachel to hit the forest.

"You."

I spun around. My vice principal was looking straight at me. After months of being ignored by absolutely everyone but Jake and Rachel, my vice principal was looking straight at me.

"Tell you what," he drawled dangerously. "Tell me who you're protecting, and I won't go find us an exorcist."

I was frozen. Frightened. "You-- How--"

Chapman rolled his eyes upward and groaned. "Fucking useless." He turned to the two Hork-Bajir. "Find them. Kill them. Bring me their heads for ID. Got it?" The Hork-Bajir nodded. "Go!" They went.

He glanced at me again. "Advice? Mind your own dead business. You tell any supernaturals? You warn any humans? I'll fucking murder them. Understood?"

I made some sort of noise.

"Good."


	5. A Killing (Jake & Rachel backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1917...

"Hey, Jake!" Rachel waved from across the street. "Hey, over here!"

Jake looked over at her. "Hey!" He looked up and down the street then ran across. "Hey, where are you off to?"

"Into town," Rachel said. "I've saved up for more Nora Bayes."

Jake made a face. "I've got something better," he taunted.

Rachel snorted. "Yeah, what's that?"

Jake showed her happily. "A letter from Gideon!"

Rachel squealed. "Oh! What does it say?"

"I haven't opened it yet," Jake admitted. "I thought you would want me to share as soon as I got it."

"Oh, nifty! Come on, let's go back to my house," Rachel offered. "We're only a couple blocks down."

"Yeah, I know," Jake laughed, following her. "That's where I was headed." Rachel punched him in the arm. "How unladylike," Jake teased.

As they came up on the house, Jake frowned. "Whose car is on the street?"

Rachel shrugged. "Frank and his lady friend. He's a friend of my dad's. Don't mind--" But she stopped, as she realized the door was ajar when reaching for the knob. "Daddy? Mom? You left the door open."

Jake felt a sinking feeling he couldn't explain. "Rachel, we should--"

"Hello? Aren't you home? I just left." Rachel continued from the door to the entry hall. There was a noise from the living room, and Rachel moved forward. "Daddy?"

Jake stood in the entryway and looked down at the envelope in his hand. He set it down on the little table by the phone on. He jumped when someone shut the door behind him. A woman he didn't recognize was locking the door, her back turned to him. "Oh, that's okay," he assured her, nervously. "We just came in, we can--"

Rachel screamed in terror.

"Rachel?!" Jake turned to go after her, but the woman grabbed his wrist, and he froze at the sight of her.

She was splattered all over with blood, most of it dripping down from her mouth. Her eyes were completely black. "You shouldn't have come home," she laughed, casually wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.


	6. Morning After (Jake)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Jake. It’s not what I go by anymore. I’m not going to tell you my current identity because Controllers are everywhere. And if the Controllers find us…
> 
> I actually don’t know what will happen. I’ve never had something like this to fear before.
> 
> It’s funny… feeling powerless. I haven’t felt this way in decades. The thing you should know, if you’re a Controller, is that just because someone feels powerless… looks helpless…
> 
> That doesn’t mean they are.

* * *

"Jake."

"Mrmph."

"Jake, get up."

"Mmnph."

"Jake, we have to talk, and I can't touch things to force you to get up. Well, I can't _now_ anyway. Which is unfortunate, because I'd really like to punch you."

That got me up. "Tobias, you can't just come into someone's room!" I protested angrily.

"You can't just not tell someone that they're dead," he countered.

I blinked at the boy sitting on the end of my bed. "Okay." When he just scowled down at me, I sighed and sat up, rubbing my eyes. "So I guess last night actually happened?"

"Alien landed? Was wacky for a bit? Then another another alien landed and ate him? Yep." He sighed. "That is the new reality." He shrugged. "Oddly enough, not the weirdest thing to happen to me yesterday."

I squinted, confused. "Really?"

"Nah, I also found out I'm dead, and I'm pretty sure my friend's a vampire or something. Probably his cousin, too."

I shrugged. "That'll do it."

He looked toward the door. "Are they all vampires?"

"No, they're extended family," I explained. "Mortal family."

"They know?"

I actually laughed at that. "No, Tobias, I did not tell the family of lovely humans that I'm a vampire." I attempted to rub the sleep out my eyes. "I convinced them that I was an orphaned relative. Did the same with Rachel. We usually operate as siblings, but this time it was easier to split up."

"You can just do that?" he asked.

"Well the paperwork gets harder every year, but it's always easier when you know the entire family history." I shrugged. "Especially what with having lived it."

"You con your own family?"

"What? No." I hesitated. "Maybe." I glanced away. "Just… Just a little, though."

"Did you know I was dead from the start?"

I was surprised by the question. "No. Tobias, you were alive when I transferred. I mean, okay, I didn't really notice you until the toilet thing, but--"

"But I was alive for that?"

I looked down at my hands, which were still wearing the gloves from last night. Luckily, this household embraced my so-called quirks. "Um, no. No, you weren't. Those bullies are… dead."

"Wow, you just ruined good news for me." He scowled. "How did I die?"

I shrugged again. "I dunno. You went missing."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

I spread my hands, helpless. "Look, I'm not an expert on ghosts. I can just see them, because I'm a... a supernatural. It's just that it's not uncommon for them to be confused at the start. And… I dunno. I thought… maybe it was best, if…"

"If I thought only two kids in all the world would ever want to pay attention to me?" Tobias countered.

I nodded. "I concede the point."

"Well, now I know why you talk like an old man sometimes," Tobias groaned, rolling his eyes upward. "Anything else you should tell me?"

"I'm… pretty sure that, uh, this," I said, gesturing uncertainly toward his general self, "will, with time, get… somewhat less awful."

"Wow, you should become a motivational speaker."

I started to climb out of bed. "I need to go do damage control. Too much was said and shown last night."

"Well, aliens are stressful." Tobias kept his eyes on the wall while I pulled on a pair of jeans from the floor. "What happens if they don't believe whatever crap you're about to feed them?"

"Well, then you get some more buddies after all," I joked, pulling on the first shirt to pass the smell test which is a much more stringent test with vampire senses. When I realized I was only getting silence from him, I returned my attention to him. "Shit, Tobias, that's a joke!" I cried upon seeing his startled expression.

"Little tip?" he said. "Don't joke about killing people when you're trying to convince your friends that you're not a monster."

There was that squirming feeling in my stomach. Boy, had I not missed that. "God, I hang out with Rachel too much."

"Why? What's wrong with Rachel?" Tobias made a face. "Well, besides the--" He put two fingers up by his mouth, pointing down.

"I don't think my cousin's a rabbit, and there's not really anything wrong with her," I said, pulling on my sneakers. "She's just… has a… strong personality."

"Yeah, I've noticed that."

I rolled my eyes. "Okay, Marco's first. I'm already invited there. Well, actually, I need to go to a storage locker first."

Tobias followed me down the stairs. "If you're some immortal vampire, why do you live with a family and go to junior high?"

I glanced around before answering in a bare whisper. "Thirteen. Forever. It's harder and harder to get good jobs as a kid, given the whole…" I gestured again. "… legal things. And living rough just makes it a bit too easy to go feral."

"Feral?"

"You know…" I said. "Snacking? Hurting? Violent and animalistic?"

"You think that poorly of animals?"

I snickered.

"What's so funny, shorty?" Tom asked, passing by, that metallic stink following after him. Even at the wide berth he'd started giving me, I could still smell it.

I supposed, at last, I had an explanation for that. I just didn't like it. "Just going out. Later, G."

"Gator."

I paused. Looked back at him. "What?"

"The phrase is 'later gator,'" he sneered. "You sound dumb abbreviating."

Shit, did I actually do that? Him and his fucking face. "I'll keep that in mind," I mumbled.


	7. Liar Liar (Marco)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Marco. Maybe it’s Marco Mullen or Marco Duncan or Marco Keller. Maybe I lied about it being Marco. That would be incredibly clever of me.
> 
> Point is, I’m not going to tell you. Because the Controllers are everywhere. Yeerks. Aliens. They crawl into your brain and take control.
> 
> Luckily for planet earth, there’s the unwilling me, a girl who has feelings, two dead kids, and their imaginary friend to stand between them and the total invasion of Earth.
> 
> What a chance you all stand.

* * *

I felt sick. I felt like I should be at home with a pile of pointy sticks, defending my father. But I knew what Jake's next move would be, because I knew what my next move would be, in his place, and he wasn't stupid.

So, I sat in Cassie's barn and listened as Rachel cheered her on happily and kept my comments to myself, waiting for Jake.

When he arrived, the first thing he said was "You weren't at home."

"I'm sorry, do I need to ask permission to leave my house?" I asked.

Jake sighed and attempted to sit next to me on the bales, but I sprawled out further, deliberately taking up space so that he couldn't.

Grumbling, Jake grabbed my legs to lift them out of the way, but I kicked him off. "For shit's sake." He gave up and took up a step ladder across from me. "Look, Marco…"

He said nothing more.

"Yes?" I taunted, though I didn't dare look at him. He could have had psychic eye magic for all I knew.

When he didn't answer again, I risked a glance toward him. He was sitting on the step with a backpack between his knees. It wasn't the same bag he used for school. It was canvas, kind of old-fashioned. "Of course, you weren't going to be easy," he grumbled. "You can't let me convince you that none of it happened. You have to beeline for the other witness."

I shrugged, hoping it wouldn't be revealed to him that Cassie hadn't noticed the monster thing and I hadn't told her yet. How do you tell someone that? Should I? How did he plan on handling it? What was in the backpack?

"If this were a typical fuck up, we'd be gone by now," he said, watching me. "But this alien shit complicates things. Rachel will want to stay, to fight. I'm going to need help pulling her out. And…" He looked down at the backpack. "There's some shit I need to take care of first. So I'm asking for a favor," he said, looking back to me.

"What makes you think I'm going to give you a favor?"

He tossed the backpack at me, making me scramble to keep from being hit in the face. "Blatant bribery," he said simply. Confused, I opened the bag and found a stack of comic books. "Can't really open a bank account when you look 13, and this should also be easier for you to cover up."

"How old are these?" I asked, flipping through. These weren't bargain bin oldies; they were titles I recognized. No wonder he was a walking encyclopedia; he been reading them since before Wertham.

"Half of them are around fifty years."

I had no idea what to think. It wasn't what I expected. I really thought he would have had me pinned by the throat at this point. "Is this normally how you solve these kinds of problems?" I asked.

He shrugged, again breaking eye contact. "Like I said, we usually leave right away. But yeah, I've been saving up a lot of items over the years for whatever purposes I might have."

I zipped up the bag. I didn't want to look at it anymore. "Is that how all… of… _whatever_ solve their problems?"

"Vampires," Jake said. "And no. No, it's not."

I made a face. "Vampires? Really? Did you have to be?"

Jake laughed. "I wasn't really asked," he admitted. "And, y'know, we just met aliens last night. _I'm_ what you're choosing to disbelieve?"

"Whatever, Corey."

Jake snorted. "Neither of the Coreys played vampires. You're never gonna beat me in pop culture."

"Are you two done?" Rachel asked, walking in with Cassie trotting behind her.

Jake stood. "Yeah, I--."

"Not really," I interrupted. Jake spun to me, surprise and worry on his face, not noticing as Cassie trotted into an empty barn stall. What did he have to worry about? _He_ wasn't suddenly bottom of the food chain. "If I ask you something," I said to him, "will you tell me the truth?"

He shrugged in an overly casual manner. "Yeah, of course."

"You say that like you've been telling me the truth all along."

His expression fell, and Rachel tensed up. But Jake nodded. "You're right. That was me blowing you off. Okay, I promise I will either tell you the truth or refuse to answer. I won't lie."

I nodded. "Right. So uh, the whole 'vampires can only get in when invited' thing…"

He nodded again. "Yes. That means I can go to your house whenever I want now, just like a human, but other vamps can't. It's transferable, though. I can invite Rachel if I want. So you might want to be stingier with your invitations from now on."

I swore. "Is there a way to undo it?"

There was that face again. Was he angry that I was making him give up power he held over me, or was he scared? He shrugged. "Move?" he suggested.

"We're not gonna murder you," Rachel grumbled. "If we were gonna do that, we wouldn't have waited this long."

Jake rubbed his nose. "Rachel, shut up."

"Think of all the Marco-less days we could have had…"

Jake punched her in the arm.

"Don't be a jerk, Rachel," Cassie said, stepping out of the stall.

Jake raised an eyebrow at her. "How long have you been in there?"

She mirrored his expression, albeit with more amusement. "Since I came in?"

"She was the horse, Jake," Rachel explained.

"That would explain the noises." He looked Cassie over. She was wearing overalls over a swimsuit and was pulling on shoes. "Everything works then?"

"Can't morph clothes," she said. "Unless they're skin tight." She turned to me. "Did you show him yet?"

"Show him what?" Jake asked.

"Nah, I wanted to know how pointy the fangs were first," I said, throwing the bag back at Jake.

He barely caught it. "Wait, _what_? Marco, I--"

I found the newspaper and shoved it at him, pointing to a specific article. "Check out the article about the construction site."

He did. His scowl slowly grew.

"That's right. The cops are--"

"This is _our_ system," Jake muttered, gaping at the article in disbelief.

"What?" the other three of us asked.

He turned to Rachel. "Have you read this?" he said, jabbing a finger at the paper the way my dad would whenever scientific studies were misrepresented.

"No, I'm not usually interested in things Marco finds fascinating. Besides," she said, clapping her hands together in unadulterated glee, "Cassie was letting me give her clothes!"

Unamused, Jake shoved the article at her. "Read," he ordered sharply.

Rachel made a face, but took it. Slowly, her expression changed from put out to surprised to angry. " _Chapman_ ," she hissed. Then, she looked up to a space just above a big cage with a turkey in it. "He what? Didn't Jake just tell you to--? Okay, fair enough."

I looked at the turkey, then back to Rachel. "Excuse me?"

"Is Tobias here right now?" asked Cassie.

Jake nodded. "Yeah, and apparently Chapman saw him at the construction site." He returned his attention to the turkey cage. "Don't go back to school. Or anywhere near Chapman. Rachel and I will see what's up with him."

"You ever notice that everyone in that club smells funny?" Rachel asked her cousin.

"I'm sorry; who's Tobias?" I asked.

"What club?" asked Cassie.

"Metallic smell?" Jake asked Rachel.

"Yeah," she insisted. "Chapman. Mrs. Chapman. Tom. Other kids at school. Not Melissa, though."

"Who is Tobias?" I repeated, more loudly this time.

"He went missing a bit back," Cassie told me. "Jake was talking to him at the construction site, and…" She paused and chewed on her lip.

"Please don't do that," Jake grumbled, and I glanced at him. His expression was firmly set, but his gaze was distant. He shifted his body weight uneasily and crossed his arms. I almost laughed. What a scary monster.

"And what?" Rachel asked Cassie.

"Did you see Elfangor put his hand to my head?" Rachel and I shook our heads, but Jake nodded. "Well, he sort of… transferred stuff to me. Like a bunch of stuff about Yeerks. There were some vague memories about a woman he thought I should find, but he could barely remember her. And then, there was a name. That was strong." She shrugged and glanced toward the turkey cage, then away. "I don't know why, but he wanted us to protect Tobias. _Our_ Tobias. It was very important to him."

Jake and Rachel both looked to the turkey again. Jake shrugged. "I don't know, man," he told the turkey.

"What does Chapman have to do with this?" I demanded.

Rachel shook her head emphatically, but Jake glanced down at the bag in his hands. He worked his mouth a couple of times, then glared in the turkey's direction, then finally said "Y'know how I said ours don't usually handle things this way?" he asked, holding up the bag to remind me of which way he meant.

"Yeah?" I said.

"There's a system. Chapman's, like, head of the local." Jake shrugged. "He also works with this club, The Sharing, but it's not ours. Just keeping up appearances with the human community, I guess. Tom's always trying to get me to join."

Tom… This was giving me a feeling I didn't like. I turned to Cassie and asked, "You said the Andalite told you stuff about Yeerks?"

She shrugged evasively. "Um, yeah, things about feeding habits and stuff. I'd rather not… think about why."

I held back any comments about our only tactics going to a pacifist, and opted instead to ask her, "Do Yeerks have a smell?"

She looked at me like I'd grown horns, but I could see Rachel adding it up and Jake glaring at me. "I don't… I mean that's not… I don't know?"

Jake waved me off. "Forget about it, Marco. Rach and I will talk to Chapman."

"Who died and made you boss?" Rachel demanded.

"You did," he countered mockingly.

"As a not-dead person with the ability to reason for myself, I'm gonna argue that," I snarled. "Chapman's one of them. Or with them somehow if InvisiBoy ran into him at the construction site. You confront him while they're still looking for the kids who were there, and they'll shove one of those things in your head just to be sure, and then it's all over for all of us."

I shook my head, more determined than I wanted to be. "If we all check out The Sharing, then your questions look more casual, and we're all there to back you up if the worst happens."

Rachel laughed. "Back us up? What are _you_ going to do? Bleed at them?"

Cassie snorted and gestured around her. "You wanna stick your hands in these cages, Rachel?"

The Dynamic Duo traded looks. Jake looked at Cassie, me, and the space above the turkey in turn. "You all really want to do this?"

I held up my hands. "I am not up for war. It's stupid for us to get involved in--"

The lights started blinking rapidly, and the animals all started chittering at once. I immediately climbed off the haystack to get away from the turkey cage. "I thought you were shitting me!" I cried.

Rachel laughed. "Marco, meet Tobias," she said, gesturing politely to the space.

"Tobias, calm down," Jake said as plainly as if this was normal. "We'll… discuss that bridge when we get to it."

The barn returned to normal.

I backed up a few more steps. "My… point… was that I do think it's a good _defensive_ idea to know who our enemy is. If there's anything up with this Sharing thing, we _need_ to know."

"You're sure?" Jake asked looking between us again. "You want me to tell Tom to expect the five of us?"

"Four," Rachel corrected. And then she snapped her fingers and pointed at to the space. "Idea!"


	8. Dinner and a Show (Tobias)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Tobias, and I’m invisible. I guess death isn’t much different from life. When I was alive, no one noticed and no one cared. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that they never found my body.
> 
> The odd thing is, people do see me now. Maybe not the people I expected… or even wanted, really, but… But I have friends now. Two that see me and talk to me and even hang out. Two that… well they don’t, but they sort of try anyway. And I like that.
> 
> Who’d have thought my life would get so much more interesting after I died?

* * *

I was laying on my back on a picnic table, watching the stars move. I wondered how far, exactly, the Andalite homeworld was. How far Elfangor had come to help.

Had he died in futility? Was there really nothing that we could do?

A girl sat at the table with her friends and set her plate exactly where my kidney should be. I sat up, knowing that if anyone can do anything about the Yeerks, that person definitely wasn't me.

I saw Jake playing volleyball with his "brother," Tom. They were close. Less close recently, since Tom had gotten involved with The Sharing, but that was mostly a scheduling issue. I'd been surprised to learn that Tom was human and more distantly related instead of another vampire. They just got each other in a way that me and my extended family never did. They looked closely related, too.

Jake was a vampire, and yet he had an embraced place in the world. I wonder what I did wrong that I couldn't get that even when I was alive.

Wanting to see if I could startle him, I popped up in the middle of the opposing team. Jake spiked the ball hard right in my direction, and suddenly, just like I always did in gym class when someone sent a ball flying right at my face, I threw up my arms to block it. The ball bounced off my arms, and I didn't realize what that meant until a split second later when someone fell through me trying to play it.

Jake picked up the ball and flashed a brilliant smile.

I popped over to where Rachel was gabbing with a smaller friend of hers. A delicate girl with pale hair and pale eyes and pale skin and... pale everything, really. Chapman's daughter, even more popular and more wicked than Rachel. She turned up her nose immediately. "Ugh! Raachel, do something about it, please?" she demanded, surprising me.

Rachel glanced at me. "What do you want me to do, Melissa?" she asked, and I was just about to go when she threw an arm around my shoulders. "Besides, he's nice. I like him."

The girl shoved Rachel's arm down, through me. "Rachel, you look like a crazy person, and you don't know where that's been."

I glared at her, then popped over to Cassie, where she was discussing animal rights with a small cluster of kids I could pretend to be part of. "Wow, Melissa's a bitch."

Cassie looked up. "Just a second," she said, getting up and walking toward the snack table. "Tobias, are you there?"

"YOU CAN SEE ME?" I shouted excitedly.

"Ow," Cassie leaned away from me. "I'm sorry Tobias, I just hear some whispers and white noise. Or... loud white noise. Just then. Like a radio dial that's just slightly off from the station? Turning the volume up doesn't really help."

"Shit," I grumbled.

She smiled. "I'll gladly keep you company, though."

"That's okay," I told her. I glanced at Jake and Tom coming back from volleyball. "I was really looking forward to playing spy but there's nothing to spy on."

"Yeah, how is that going?" she asked.

I groaned. "I'll… catch you later."

"I didn't realize it was so much fun," Jake was telling Tom.

Tom grinned. "Well, that's not all it is. I mean, it's more than just fun. The Sharing can do all kinds of things for you. Once you're a full member."

Jake smirked. "How do you get to be a full member?" he asked with a hint of playful mocking.

Tom smiled mysteriously, but his eyes looked… hungry. Were we sure he was human? "Oh, that will come later. First you become an associate member. Later the leaders will decide whether to ask you to become a full member. Once you become a full member…" He flinched and vicious anger flashed across his face, brief but unmistakable. "… the whole world changes," he continued flawlessly.

Jake stopped smirking.

"I have to go for a while now," Tom said. "The full members have a separate meeting. You guys stay here and have fun. Have some more of that barbecue. It's great, isn't it?" He didn't wait for Jake to answer before walking off away from the light of the bonfire.

It was dark and the fire had died down somewhat, but I was sure Jake's eyes had blown black again the second Tom turned his back. "Want me to go after him?" I asked.

"Yes," he hissed, not even sounding partially human.

I didn't pop; I walked. I didn't want to get accidentally seen again. I followed Tom at a distance to a bowl-like area formed by the dunes. The guards standing around it noticed me immediately and snarled in warning. No fangs or black eyes though. Maybe they were better trained than Jake and Rachel.

In my uncertainty, I flickered away. "Can't you feel it?" Cassie was asking the group, shivering. "All these so-called full members, they're all being so perfectly nice. So perfectly helpful. They're so perfectly normal it's abnormal. And all the time their eyes are following you, watching--"

"Tobias!" Rachel snapped, catching sight of me. "Why aren't you at the meeting?"

"The guards saw me. Must be more vamps," I said.

Jake swore under his breath, glancing at Marco and Cassie. "Do you both have morphs?"

"Just the horse," Cassie admitted.

Marco shook his head. "Why?"

"Yeerks with that many vamps is bad enough, but if we're wrong about The Sharing being for Yeerks?" said Jake. "Then this could be a culling, and we need to get you out of here if it is."

Rachel pulled back her shirt sleeve and held out her arm to Cassie. "See if you can acquire me."

Cassie seemed unsure but gripped Rachel's arm anyway. "I think it's still possible it's Yeerks," said Marco. "If I were a body snatching species, expected humans and got my hands on one vamp, I'd want more."

"It's not working," Cassie said, pulling back. "It won't take DNA from… dead things."

"Ugh, it's not like I have pieces falling off," Rachel groaned. She turned to Jake. "Are we safe?"

"If they were going to take us by force, they'd have done it by now," he said, casting glances around with arms crossed over his chest. "A volunteer would be easier to control."

"How do you get vampires to volunteer?" asked Cassie.

"Hedrick," Rachel snarled.

Jake turned to me. "Try again. _Carefully_. Try using your intangibility to your advantage."

"Remember," said Rachel. "They can't hurt you. But if they're able to ID you, they may go after the kids who have been hanging out with you since your death and also happened to be here tonight."

"No pressure or anything," I grumbled, turning back toward the dunes.

I took my time coming back around to the bowl. It was hard enough to see in the dark, and I didn't want to get caught again. Every time I saw another guard, I dodged back into the nearest dune. It took a while to find one close enough for me to wait by until the nearest guard looked away. I ran forward, right into the sand. It took a lot of concentration to get to the other side, but I was able to get just close enough to hear. Now all I had to do was not pop away, which I could feel my whole self wanting to do.

"He should be here soon," Tom's voice said. "Wait, here he comes."

The sand shifted over me as someone walked over it, and I was so scared that I almost vanished. "Everyone, quiet. We have problems," I heard Chapman say. "Item one. We still have not found the brats who were at the construction site. I want all Type Ones and Type Threes to take this photo. A Type Two of this child was seen at the construction site. He may know the kids involved. May even haunt them. Whatever you do, evade it, as we always do with Type Twos, and call in an exterminator.

"I want the witnesses found. Visser Three wants them found. Does anyone have any clues?"

"It could have been anyone," Tom said. "But it might be the Type One who lives with my host's family, Jake. I know he goes through the construction site sometimes. That's why I brought him here tonight. So we could either make him ours… or stake him."

Chapman sounded annoyed. "There's not going to be any killing at a Sharing meeting. Learn from your host's lessons. No suspicious activity." There was a pause, then, "Lots of children and others make use of that site. We can't force control of all of them. Especially the Type Ones; there's a reason we've left Jake and Rachel alone so far. We need to be sure."

Another pause, then, "Just wait. Children can't keep shut up about something as big and strange as aliens. Even the SubHumans. They'll reveal themselves soon enough."

And then a scream. Loud and piercing. I didn't wait to see how the Yeerks would handle it. I let go immediately, popping over to Jake, and then again closer to the main meeting, just out of the light of the bonfire.

That was when I saw her. Rachel. Bent over the pale Melissa. Blood dripped steadily from where Rachel's mouth was latched onto her neck. Her back was arching into Rachel's embrace, and her fingers tightened in the fabric of Rachel's shirt. It was someone else who had screamed.

Rachel glanced up at me, her eyes blown black completely. She slid her fangs out of Melissa's neck, and Melissa whimpered with disappointment. Rachel, looking at me with a predatory grin, nodded her head toward the water, where I could see Cassie waiting. I popped away just as Chapman showed up.

"Cassie?" I said, trying not to be too loud but wanting her to hear me.

"Tobias?" she asked, closing her eyes to concentrate.

"Yeah, it's me."

By the bonfire, Chapman pulled Rachel off his daughter and tossed her aside like a doll. She screamed as she landed with her arm in the fire. Crying, she turned bodily to cradle it between her and the sand.

"We were worried about you," Cassie said, watching nervously as she lay down on the sand to hide her profile. "Rachel decided to be distracting."

"By _attacking_ someone?" I demanded.

"She said that Melissa is one of them," Cassie continued. "Marco and I are meeting at the barn again tomorrow. If everything turns out here, bring Jake and Rachel. If it doesn't, please warn us as soon as possible. I'll know the point if you talk to me and they're not with you. Can you show me you understand and agree?" she asked.

I concentrated as hard as I could, then swept my hand across the sand directly in front of her. Some of it sort of moved.

Cassie grinned. "Thanks." With one more glance toward the bonfire, she started creeping away. I popped up onto the lifeguard tower to watch without being seen.

"I'm sorry," Jake was apologizing, standing next to Chapman as the others from the Inner Circle finished shooing everyone back to their cars and away from the bonfire. "I'm so sorry. It won't happen again."

"The once was enough," Chapman snapped. "Do not either of you come to another meeting without invitation from me and _only_ me. I should have culled you useless brats seventy years ago."

"I understand," said Jake.

Chapman pulled Rachel up by the neck, and she screamed in terror as he held her far too close to the fire. Jake tensed visibly but remained standing where he was, hands clasped obediently behind his back. "Shut up!" Chapman spat at her. He then instructed her, "If anyone asks, this was a prank between you and Melissa, and that's why you're no longer allowed alone with her. Understood?"

"Daddy, stop!" Melissa begged, still sitting on the ground and not actually looking that distressed. Chapman ignored her.

Rachel did her best to nod in the position she was in, and Chapman tossed her at Jake's feet. Aside from a flinch, Jake remained as he was. Chapman helped his daughter up and started to guide her away. "And get someone to eat. You look like shit," he snarled as he passed them.

"I'll keep that under advisement," Jake said in monotone.

Neither made a move until everyone was finally gone. Then, Jake bent down and looked at Rachel's arm. It was already scarring over. He helped her to her feet. "You're going to get us killed." He didn't sound angry. He sounded sad.

"Why stop the pattern here?" Rachel teased weakly.

He kissed her forehead and held her close.

It's because of this that I trusted them. Because they do things I've never seen another vampire do. Because, despite everything, they were still so human.


	9. Savior (Jake & Chapman backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1917...

When Jake woke up, he was tied and chained to a chair. And he was starving. Hungrier than he'd ever felt before.

He struggled against the bonds, but whoever had done it had known what they were doing. The ropes didn't even give enough to allow so much as a flinch. The chair didn't budge at all when he attempted to throw his weight, not that he could move enough to throw it.

He screamed in frustration, and the sound that came from him was unholy. But he couldn't think about that now. He was too hungry. What he wouldn't give for the feeling of tearing into fresh meat. Yes, fresh. That would be so good. Sweet metal flowing down his throat. He wanted it more than he'd ever wanted anything.

A door in front of him opened, and a figure appeared in the light, and Jake could smell the blood, and he wanted to drink it, and Jake could hear the heart, and he wanted to crush it, and Jake

"I see you're awake."

Jake growled and snarled and snapped at the figure.

He closed the door behind him and locked it before walking closer in the near-dark, lit only by what little sun could make its way in through the slats over the windows. "You're lucky. Everyone who knows about your kind would kill you right away. But I haven't been trained without compassion. You're young, and this wasn't fair." He leaned over Jake, and Jake moaned desperately at the overwhelming need to taste what his insides were like. He ignored Jake, turning on the ceiling light. "If you can make it past the hunger, you may just have a chance at life. If. It's up to you."

Jake strained against his binds, fingers scraping away chunks of wood and teeth dripping with saliva.

"I see," said the man. "Maybe we should discuss this later." He walked back to the door, and Jake howled his anguish.


	10. Doing What Animals Do (Cassie)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Cassie. And everything is changing. Maybe it changed a long time ago, and I’m only now noticing.
> 
> I never wanted to fight anyone over anything. But if I don’t do this, if I don’t try to help…
> 
> I don’t think anyone else will.
> 
> There’s a point in a life… some lives, probably not all… where you learn who you are in the world. Where you have to decide how much you love almost six billion total strangers.
> 
> Maybe I am too small for this. Maybe you’re not worth it anyway.
> 
> But I love you enough to get my hands dirty. To bathe them in blood that’s never going to go away. That’s my place now. That’s the sacrifice I’ve made.
> 
> And, somehow, I don’t think it’s the last one that will be asked of me.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> On tumblr, Tobias's speech is specially formatted to show that he sounds different. All I can do here is italicize it. Sorry.

* * *

"That's so Chapman," Marco griped once Tobias told us, through Jake, what he'd seen at the meeting.

Jake turned toward the hawk cage again, and we waited to hear what more Tobias had to say. Then, he said, "Tobias has been spying during the day. He says there's a Yeerk pool entrance in the janitor's closet."

"That sounds not remotely dangerous," Marco snipped.

"He was careful not to be seen," Rachel argued.

"We need to be smarter about this shit," Marco said. "He can't be constantly around the very people who were warned about him. Especially since the Yeerks say they have exorcists to deal with him. And you two," he said, indicating to Jake and Rachel, "need to stop hanging out with us squishy humans and go be vampier. Something Chapman would like, so he won't consider using the resources necessary to _force_ a Yeerk in your head."

"This is a lot to deal with," I said.

 _"I heard human screams,"_ Tobias said from the hawk cage. I looked toward the cage and earned a suspicious glance from Marco.

"He says he heard human screams," Jake told us.

"Yeah, I'd scream with monsters and aliens making a slave of me, too," Marco snipped "Which is why I have zero intention of playing offense."

"You can't just ignore what's going on," Rachel said, pulling away from the wall.

"Sure I can. All I have to do is remind myself that hey, guess what? I don't want to die." His eyes narrowed. "That still happens for some of us."

"That's it, then?" Rachel demanded. "Just whatever's best for Marco?"

"I don't think Marco is being selfish," I said. "Just the opposite. He's thinking about his father. About what would happen to his dad if Marco--"

"We all have family!" Rachel snapped. "You think I don't have family?!"

Marco laughed at her, and Rachel lunged at him, and Jake grabbed her by the waist and tossed her effortlessly back onto the hay. It was all over by the time Marco had jumped to his feet to retreat. "And that! _Reason number fucking one_ why I don't want to! Why any sane person wouldn't want to! Who the hell would want _that_ at their back?" he exclaimed, pointing emphatically in Rachel's direction.

"Who the hell wants _you_ at their front?" Rachel groaned, sitting up slowly.

"Just calm down. Both of you," said Jake. He took a deep breath, then said, "Look, I'm not asking anyone else to go with me. But I don't have a choice. I know Tom's going down there tonight. He's my responsibility. I have to try and save him."

_"I don't know what I can do, but I'm with you... for the Andalite."_

"There's no one else who can do anything to stop the Yeerks," Rachel argued. "I understand the price of them seeing us, but I'm not leaving well enough alone." She punched Jake in the arm. "I'm there."

Marco shook his head. When I looked at him, I felt knots in my stomach and bile in my throat. "This is bad," he said. "This is so bad."

"Look, Marco, you don't have to--" Jake started.

"Oh, shut up!" he snapped. "You're my best friend, you jerk. Like I'm going to let you go face all this alone when you can't even hide your identity behind some animal? I'm in. To rescue Tom. Then it's over. I'm done."

"Can we do this with only two of us morphing?" I asked.

The lights flickered and an empty water trough was thrown across the room, just over our heads.

Rachel grinned as she stood. "Someone's been practicing," she laughed. She moved toward the heavy water trough.

 _"I have a lot of feelings,"_ Tobias joked.

"That's nice," I groaned, "but I wish you hadn't done that. I don't know how to explain to my dad that something _he_ can't even move easily ended u--" Rachel picked up the water trough, crossed the room with it (forcing Marco to duck out of the way), and put it back where it belonged. "Oh."

"I changed my mind," said Marco. "I want you guys in front of me."

"You're going to need more firepower than a horse and a nothing," Jake said, looking at me. "Can you get him into the Gardens?"

"Marco has to pay his way in, and I'd feel better if Tobias went with us," I said, "but the two of us sneaking around shouldn't be a big deal."

"Oh, I'm sure we could talk them into letting us in for nothing," Marco said. "Just tell them we're Animorphs."

I looked at him. "What?"

"Idiot teenagers with a death wish."

"Animorphs," Jake drawled, and Rachel rolled her eyes.

* * *

I stopped near the otter habitat. "Okay, Marco, stick with me and try not to be suspicious-looking. I'm taking you inside."

He looked around, confused. "Inside where?"

"Well, the way it works is, there are walkways behind all these exhibits. That's how they feed the animals and give them meds or whatever." I point to a half-hidden door. "Anyway, we can go in through there."

Marco put his hand over his nose as I closed the door behind him. "Why does it smell worse back here?"

I shrugged. "Look, if any staff people stop us, the story is that we're here to see my mom," I told him. "Of course, it's so late in the afternoon she won't be here. I hope. Because if she finds out I've been dragging friends back here… Well, I can't be saving the world from alien invaders if I'm grounded. Hopefully, there won't be many staff people here at all."

Marco gave me a thumbs up. I heard nothing from Tobias. There was nothing I could do if he'd lost us or if I was again unable to hear him. I wished our circumstances were more predictable.

I lead the way down the main hall for a bit before stopping at Big Jim's door. "How do you feel about gorillas? This is Big Jim's cage. He just came over from another zoo, so he's in his own private environment for now. He's very gentle."

He didn't look like he liked the idea.

"Haven't you always wanted to be a big, hairy guy?" I teased.

He made a face at me. "Maybe we could start with something… cuddlier?"

"Marco, everything advantageous is going to be scary," I said. "Besides, gorillas are extremely gentle. Unless you make them mad." I opened my backpack and took out an apple, shoving it into his hand.

Marco made a squeaking noise.


	11. Belly of the Beast (Rachel)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> My name is Rachel, and I’m not going to tell you any more about me, because Controllers are everywhere. They could be anyone. I can’t trust anyone.
> 
> But you know what I can tell you? I can tell you that I like it. I can tell you that I’ve been waiting to be called for something like this.
> 
> I can tell you that I’m going to kill every single one.
> 
> So if you are a Controller? Run. Run hard and run fast. Because you aren’t safe on this planet. Run away.

* * *

I watched Jake pick the lock on a back door. Marco was glaring at him. "What?" I asked.

"All this time," Marco said, glowering, "of the two of us, _he_ was labeled the good one."

Jake finally freed the lock and opened the door. "Alright, in."

Tobias walked out of a bank of lockers, surprising me and Jake. "There's people around, entering the janitor's closet. I think Tom's already down there."

"Do they seem to know each other by sight?" Jake asked.

He shook his head. "I don't see any checks. We should be careful though. Everyone's been told to look for me, and they may now be suspicious of you."

"I can't believe we're just going to walk right in like we belong," Marco groaned. "That this is the grand plan."

"Still time to leave, squishy," I taunted.

"Shove off."

Jake groaned. "We go ahead, like we planned. We figure there are too many Controllers for all of them to know each other. I mean, they add new bodies all the time, right? So maybe we're new Controllers."

"Oh, man," Marco moaned.

"You have a better idea?" Jake snapped.

"No," he said. "I think we go ahead. We take our chances. Being the best plan we have doesn't make it not stupid."

"Okay, then, everyone act cool," Jake said, ignoring him. "Rachel and I will go ahead, so if we're caught, you aren't associated with us. You see us caught, walk out. Fight out. Whatever you have to do. When we get down there, morphers are front, vamps are back, the ghost scouts." And then he turned the corner, and I followed him. We made our way confidently to the janitor's closet that Tobias had described. By the time we got there, no one was in the hallway.

We stepped inside and closed the door behind us. Jake gripped the sink nervously. I hugged his waist and pressed a small kiss between his shoulders. "Gideon would want you to," I whispered, and he nodded.

As Tobias instructed, he twisted the faucet to the left and the second coat hook to the right. The wall/door swung open and noise rushed up to greet us.

It sounded like hell.

Jake pushed his hand into mine, entwining our fingers, and pulled me along down those stairs after him. They were forever long, but eventually we reached the bottom and ducked behind a shed.

"Jake, this is huge. This is so big," I gasped. "This is far bigger than anything ours have ever set up. Can we really stop something like this?"

He peered around the corner. "Tom first. Stopping later."

And that was when I realized that he had never planned on winning. The boy who'd saved me, who'd made the sacrifices that he had to, would put the world first.

"Tom is in the cages," said Tobias, appearing suddenly. "Cassie and Marco are morphing in the closet and the hall."

"Great, now we wait for…" He frowned.

I snickered. "This is where you realized you didn't ask about their morphs, isn't it?"

"Is he okay?" Jake asked Tobias.

"He's yelling his brains out at the Hork-Bajir guards about how he doesn't belong there."

Jake grinned. "Yes!" he cried, elated that Tom was not one of the volunteers we'd seen relaxing in a room at the far end of the pool.

"You!" a voice yelled. A human voice. "You two. Who are you?"

I turned to see a man. One man. Flanked by a Hork-Bajir and a Taxxon. I smiled. Flipped my hair. Then I bared it.

"Cute," he said. "You know Ones aren't allowed-- _What_?" he demanded, turning when he was interrupted by a tap on the shoulder. The gorilla that had tapped him then picked him up and tossed him.

I raced forward and plunged my hands into the Taxxon's jello-like eyes. It screeched, and, at first, I thought it was trying to eat me. But it just kept aiming for the same spot after I'd run off toward the cages. It was aiming for its own wounds. It didn't stop thrashing like that until Jake sliced the Hork-Bajir's belly with a Boy Scout knife.

I pulled my hood up over my head and kept running as fast as I could, in hopes of keeping my face to myself.

"HRRRAAAUUH!"

I dropped to the floor and spun toward the noise, only to see a massive moose come crashing through the line of Hork-Bajir that had run out to see about the commotion.

<Moose?> came Cassie's voice in my head. <What moose? I don't see a moose. Please excuse me.>

I laughed so hard, tears welled up in my eyes. Suddenly, I was pulled up to my feet. "Come on! Go!" Jake urged, his own hood pulled up.

Hork-Bajir ran toward us, but we dodged quickly, occasionally taking the time to do damage. But our good luck didn't last near long enough. We were lucky that the Vampire-Controllers hadn't yet reacted. In fact, I had yet to notice one. Hadn't Tobias said they were using them as guards?

<     se th       Three !> came a distorted command from a distance.

"Three? Why is he talking about himself?"

Jake looked around. The pool was emptying out fast. "Rachel, what day is it?"

"Wednesday," I told him. "Why?"

"AAAARRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

I tripped. I puked. My vision swam.

Jake pulled me up and away and through scattering bodies. How close were they?

How close were they?

HOW CLOSE?

"The cages are just over there!" he yelled. "We have no opposition now!"

STAIRS. ESCAPE. _NOW._

I started pulling in the opposite direction. "No, Jake, we can't!"

<AAAAAGH!>

I spun, tears in my eyes, to see two wolves tackle a full grown moose. The gorilla, closer, ran to her aid. <The hell is this?!> Marco demanded.

"Those cages hold back Hork-Bajir!" I cried, pulling back on Jake's grip. "He's safer inside! Please! We'll save him next week! If we let him out now, he'll die!"

Jake stared longingly in the direction of the cages, but allowed me to pull him away. Tripping over the fallen and running for our lives between scared controllers, we were both swiped several times. One wolf actually stopped what it was doing to chase after us.

"HEY! MOOSE AND SQUIRREL!" Jake screamed. "BAILING! NOW! NOW! GO!"

Marco was holding his guts in as he lead a bitten and slashed-up Cassie toward the stairs. He collapsed at the foot, and the moose hesitated. <Go, Cassie!> he commanded. <Go! Hurry!>

She danced a little uncertainly, but finally took off up the stairs.

Marco stood again, but collapsed. His own blood was pooling at his feet. I could see his viscera hanging out of his belly.

"DEMORPH!" Jake screamed as we ran to catch up. "IT'S ALL YOU'VE GOT! WE CAN CARRY YOU SMALLER!"

Marco curled in on himself, shuddering, but, slowly, his form started to shrink. With a werewolf on our heels and more headed toward the scent of a fresh meal, we finally reached him and, without saying a word to each other, each grabbed an arm and started hauling him up the stairs.

Marco continued demorphing, and, miraculously, the bleeding stopped and his belly stitched closed. The fur began to disappear, and we were able to speed up soon, able to see the part of the stairs where the walls closed and would hide us looming ahead. Problem was that Cassie had stopped, demorphing to fit through.

"Horns!" I shouted, able to feel the monsters closing in. "Cassie, concentrate!"

I risked a glance back just as a werewolf came leaping over its comrades at us. I dodged to the side, and Jake almost lost his footing on the stairs as the wolf fell to its death. Cassie's antlers began to shrink just in time for us to push into the smaller space. Another wolf made a desperate grab for us, and slashed Marco's unfurred, fleshy calf.

He screamed in pain, and we ran as fast as we could behind Cassie's bumbling, shrinking, awkward form. Luckily, once confined, the wolves became far more interested in fighting each other. Memories of Melissa's dog fights swam in my head, and I felt bile rise in my throat.

No. Not now. I had to push on. I would not be scared. Fear is for prey.

We raced for the door, slamming it closed behind us, breaking the fixtures and throwing the shelves down in front of it. We didn't stop running from the school until Marco insisted, two blocks down, that he could carry himself.

"Well, that could have gone worse," Tobias quipped.

Marco spun around. "Who the fuck are you?"

Cassie gaped at Marco, confused. "You can see Tobias now?"

"I can what?"

Slowly, our eyes slid down to Marco's leg, where the bloody claw marks remained as his leg had been mostly human when it received them. I felt ill.

"Marco, morph," Jake said.

"What?" he asked. "Dude, not in front of the--"

Jake grabbed him by his too-tight morphing shirt. "MORPH AND DEMORPH RIGHT NOW!"


	12. Saved (Jake & Chapman backstory)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> 1918...

Finally, when the man came, Jake did not react. He even slit a cut across his arm and presented it to Jake, but Jake turned away weakly.

"Why don't you just kill me?" he moaned.

"Because that's not the plan." The man took another chair and set it opposite Jake before sitting in it. "Do you know what you are?"

"My name is Jake," he whispered.

"Hi, I'm Chapman," the man joked. "But do you know _what_ you are?"

Jake shook his head pathetically, confused. "I'm just a kid…"

"Not anymore," he said. "You're a vampire, Jake. Some monster nearly killed you and then fed you its blood as you died to make you like it is."

Jake shook his head. "You're insane."

"Think about it, Jake. Think about what you've been doing, how you've been acting, the way you feel. You know it's true."

"Rachel… My cousin…"

Chapman sighed. "I'm sorry. She wasn't there when I got there. You've been locked up here for months. There's no finding her now."

Jake's head snapped up, staring Chapman right in the eyes. "That's not an acceptable answer."


End file.
